Wednesday, May 3, 2017

The Arkansas Travelers
The Texas Tornados
Well folks we are back from Fayetteville, Arkansas.
After I had posted the trio was heading up to Arkansas for a show, someone jokingly
commented they couldn’t believe something or someone had
enticed me to actually leave Texas and play music elsewhere, outside of the Lone Star State. Come on
now…let’s be fair …we go up to Colorado and New Mexico, out to California last year and occasionally
make it up to Pennsylvania!We do cross
the state line every now and then… when we want to.Any way it had been many moons since I
last played in Arkansas.And in
Fayetteville, the home of the Razorbacks!
However when a music series called SUNRISE STAGE CONCERTS contacted, us we immediately booked a show there. What
a wonderful surprise and place to play! SUNRISE GUITARS Music Store hosts
the concert series. Owner Don
Nelms had this vision to turn a former car dealership building into a large
beautiful music store with an attached custom built concert hall (with room acoustics
given a top priority). Michael Hearne, Mike Roberts, and I
performed two sets for an enthusiastic sold out crowd. Micheal Hearne’s Arkansas family was there, and a friend of mine I went to high
school with, I mean we are talking way, way back in the day, Matt Maples was
there with his wife Marsha!!Another old
friend, Randy Bulla from the Houston Days, dropped in to say howdy after about
35 years and joined us for a couple of songs and played harmonica on “Mr. Jelly
Roll Baker” and added flute on “Deep In the West”.

Also….Special guest, Ezra Idlet from TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA
brought his new drums, set them up, and jammed with us. That was huge
unexpected treat for everyone and added a special touch to the show. Ezra has
that songwriter sensibility and touch on the drums.He just seems to know when and where and what
to play. We always enjoy jamming with him. Thank you Ezra!We’ll be jamming again at the Michael
Hearne’s Big Barn Dance!Please
check out the pics from the show I included, I’ll tell you what, when I do decide to leave Texas I sure
pick a fine time! There were storms, heavy rain, and tornadoes tearing
a destructive path across Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.After Friday night’s show, on Saturday
morning we loaded up and made our way back through heavy rain, fog, high winds… no GPS
signal to seek shelter.I mean you name
it and it was around the corner.I
am always happy and at peace and breathe a sigh of relief whenever I see the
‘Welcome to Texas’ sign…But this time even more so.

We drove down to "The Beautiful East Piney Woods "where Winnsboro,
TX. resides. The sun was shining
down for a moment. It’s a historic old town where even Bonnie and Clyde settled
down for a spell. We performed Saturday night at the Winnsboro Art Center on
Historic Old Market Street. By show time thunder was rolling and a storm was moving in to Winnsboro. We were
wondering if anyone might show up at all. A room full of folks braved the
ominous stormy night and pounding thunderstorm to attend the show. Thank
you folks. While lightening split the sky and thunder was sounding over head, our friends Lynn Adler and Lindy Hearne (yes, he and
Michael are cousins) opened the show with a set of their well written original songs and beautiful
vocals. They will be performing this year at MICHAEL HEARNE’S BIG BARN DANCE in
Taos, so you’ll all get a chance to hear them perform.As we hit the stage it looked and sounded
outside like the end of the world was approaching and the building we were in
might just fly away at any moment. It didn’t and in spite of the deluge
the show went on.
I must say we are truly blessed to be able to perform in such wonderful
listening rooms, with wonderful sound systems, with fantastic audiences there
for only one reason and that is to hear music and support what we do.
What more could we wish for?Thank you
Winnsboro for coming out. Thank you Lynn and Lindy for having us at the Art Center.

PLUS, our visit there was also highlighted by our stay at
the Historic Hubbell House built in 1888.It is now serves the community as
a Bed and Breakfast with beautiful garden grounds and several “guest houses’
placed about.We enjoyed our stay in
such a serene peaceful setting the gardens provide. Thank you George ( the property manager) for your hospitality. Sunday
was a beautiful morning. The storm had passed and before we hit the trail
we had breakfast with Lynn and Lindy at their home just 10 miles outside
of Winnsboro. They have a lovely place that sits on a private lake to come home
to and wind down from the road. We said our goodbyes to them and wound back
down the country back roads and highways, through all the Sunday scenery to
Houston. ALSO I found out…Being up in that part of Texas is in “Miranda Land” Miranda
Lambert was born and grew up in Lindale, TX. My old friend Debbie Porter who was at the show, who knows just about everyone
and about everything musical thing going on around the area, told me that her
friend guitarist John Defoore, who used
to run “The Picking Parlor“ in Mineola, TX. was the one who taught Miranda how
to play guitar and used my songs, (one of which was “YOU WOULDN’T KNOW ME”) to
teach her how to play and how to write a song. I had wondered how she first
heard the song. It seems like she’s known my old song from her very first
musical beginningand for quite some
time. OK mystery solved. Thanks Debbie, thank you John. Thank you Miranda for making my song part of your
journey.

Now I am back home with a little time off before we work again.I am working on new tunes for my next CD
which I’ll begin to record next month. So the down time will come in
handy.

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About Me

For more than three decades, Texas singer-songwriter Shake Russell has been entertaining audiences throughout the region with his unique, Americana style of folk-rock. A prolific songwriter, Shake has written or co-written hundreds of melodies.

Through the years, Shake’s songs and albums have frequented the Billboard charts, with many, including “Deep in the West,” “You’ve Got a Lover,” “Put Yourself in My Shoes,” “One More Payment,” and “Our Kind of Love” being recorded by such distinguished artists as Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Ricky Skaggs, Clint Black, and Carolyn Dawn Johnson. Ricky Skagg’s hit recording of “You’ve Got a Lover” has appeared on three of Ricky’s albums.